HID Global Picks Austin for $36M Plant

HID Global Corp. has chosen Austin for its new manufacturing and distribution facility. After months of negotiations, which began early this year, the identity security company announced the decision to build a 200,000-square-foot operations center in Northeast Austin. According to the Austin Business Journal, HID is expected to create 147 jobs in 2014 and 129 jobs the following year.

HID Global Corp. has chosen Austin for its new manufacturing and distribution facility. After months of negotiations, which began early this year, the identity security company announced the decision to build a 200,000-square-foot operations center in Northeast Austin.

According to the Austin Business Journal, HID is expected to create 147 jobs in 2014 and 129 jobs the following year. The job creation aspect weighed heavily in getting the necessary public aid, adds the publication. Public officials have offered HID $3.5 million in tax breaks and incentives, as follows:

a 10-year, performance-based grant totaling $920,576 from the city of Austin

$1.9 million from the state, through its Texas Enterprise Fund

$745,000 from Travis County

According to a company’s news release, the $36 million project will break ground in December of this year.

The new Genuine HID Operations Center for North America will become the company’s largest facility in the region. The facility will include a high-tech manufacturing operation that will produce HID Global’s secure identity products for enterprise and government customers, reports KXAN.

In other interesting news, the building that houses the headquarters for the Department of State Health Services is about to be renovated, reports the Austin-American Statesman. In November, the state will begin a $20 million renovation project meant to replace the building’s concrete panels and some of the structure’s mechanical systems.

Built in 1989, the building’s structure has been falling apart for more than 10 years. Houston-based Satterfield and Pontikes Construction was selected as general contractor for the renovation project. Construction is expected to complete in March 2014.

Photo rendering of Headquarters of the Texas Department of State Health Services, courtesy of Wikipedia.org